BlackRock vs Google: Founders, CEOs and History
BlackRock was founded in 1988 by Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Susan Wagner and is led by Larry Fink. Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page, Sergey Brin and is led by Sundar Pichai.
Company facts
Founders
BlackRock
Larry Fink
Fink joined First Boston in 1976 and became one of its youngest managing directors, running a mortgage-bond desk that was highly profitable until a 1986 interest-rate move cost it about $100 million.
Robert S. Kapito
Kapito worked alongside Fink at First Boston and joined him in founding BlackRock in 1988.
Susan Wagner
Wagner ran many of the functions that let a small bond shop grow into a global firm, including strategy, corporate development and operations.
Barbara Novick
For roughly BlackRock's first two decades Novick ran its global client business, winning the institutional mandates that funded the firm's early growth.
Ben Golub
Golub led much of the quantitative work behind BlackRock's risk-first approach, building analytics for mortgage prepayment, interest-rate and credit risk that became central to Aladdin.
Hugh Frater
Frater was one of the mortgage specialists who helped launch BlackRock's fixed income business and held senior roles at the firm before leaving.
Ralph Schlosstein
Schlosstein brought corporate finance and public policy experience to the founding team; before Lehman he worked at the US Treasury and on the White House domestic policy staff during the Carter administration.
Keith Anderson
Anderson ran BlackRock's fixed income investing for two decades, the core of the firm until iShares arrived with the 2009 BGI deal, and sat on its executive committee. In 2008 he left to become Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management.
Larry Page
Google possesses arguably the most famous, influential founding story in the history of Silicon Valley, rooted in the academic environment of Stanford University and a foundational obsession with organizing all of human knowledge.
Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin co-founded Google and played a central role in the early engineering, product, and cultural development of the company. He helped build the search technology, recruit technical talent, and preserve a culture that valued bold experiments.
CEOs and their tenures
BlackRock
- Larry Fink1988–present
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Fink co-founded BlackRock in 1988 and has run it for its entire history, taking it from a bond boutique to the world's largest asset manager.
Source - Susan Wagner1988–2012
Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman
Co-founder who led strategy, corporate development and operations, including BlackRock's side of the MLIM merger and the BGI acquisition, before retiring from management in 2012 and joining the board.
Source - Robert S. Kapito2007–present
President
Co-founder who long ran BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group across fixed income, equity, liquidity and alternatives before becoming President in 2007, overseeing day-to-day operations.
Source - Rob Goldstein2014–present
Chief Operating Officer
Named COO in 2014 after running BlackRock's global institutional client business; oversees operations across the firm and sits on the management committee created in 2025.
Source - Martin Small2023–present
Chief Financial Officer
CFO since 2023; leads financial planning and investor reporting and has laid out the 2030 targets for private markets, technology and digital asset revenue on earnings calls.
Source - Adebayo Ogunlesi2024–present
Chairman and CEO, Global Infrastructure Partners
Founder of GIP who joined BlackRock's leadership when the deal closed in October 2024; leads its infrastructure business, including the Aligned Data Centers and AES transactions.
Source
- Larry Page1998–2019
Co-founder and Former CEO
Larry Page is one of the most consequential technologists of the modern era. His initial algorithmic breakthrough organized the chaotic early internet, creating the essential infrastructure for the modern digital economy.
Source - Eric Schmidt2001–2011
Former CEO and Executive Chairman
Schmidt was the indispensable bridge between a chaotic academic research project and a globally dominant, publicly traded corporation.
Source - Sundar Pichai2015–present
CEO of Alphabet and Google
Pichai provides crucial corporate stability and pragmatic product leadership, transitioning Google from its chaotic early years into a profitable, mature corporate giant.
Source
Timeline: BlackRock and Google side by side
1988BlackRock
Founded inside the Blackstone Group
Larry Fink and seven partners start Blackstone Financial Management, a bond and risk-management unit backed by a $5 million credit line from the Blackstone Group.
1992BlackRock
Renamed BlackRock
The business takes the BlackRock name and ends the year managing about $17 billion in assets.
1994BlackRock
Sold to PNC for $240 million
After a dispute over equity for new hires, Blackstone sells BlackRock to PNC, which becomes its long-term majority owner.
1998Google
Google Founded
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google after developing PageRank at Stanford University. The search engine ranked web pages by link authority, which made results feel more relevant than portal-era competitors.
1999BlackRock
NYSE IPO
BlackRock lists on the New York Stock Exchange on October 1, 1999, at $14 per share.
2000BlackRock
BlackRock Solutions launched
BlackRock starts selling its internal risk analytics, later known as Aladdin, and advisory services to other institutions.
2000Google
AdWords Launch
Google launched AdWords in 2000 and connected advertising to search intent. Businesses could pay to appear near relevant queries, eventually through auction-based performance advertising.
2004Google
Google IPO
Google went public in 2004 using an auction process and priced 19,605,052 shares at $85, raising about $1.67B. The IPO gave the company capital for hiring, data centers, acquisitions, and global expansion.
2005Google
Android Acquisition
Google acquired Android in 2005 to secure a role in mobile operating systems before smartphones became the main internet device. Android later gave Google global reach through manufacturers such as Samsung and many others.
2006BlackRock
Merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers
The MLIM deal adds equity, retail and international businesses and gives Merrill Lynch a stake of nearly half of BlackRock.
2006Google
YouTube Acquisition
Google closed the YouTube acquisition in 2006 for stock valued at $1.65B. The deal gave Google a user-generated video platform, creator ecosystem, and advertising surface outside text search before online video had a mature business model.
2008BlackRock
Hired to manage crisis assets
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York hires BlackRock to manage the Maiden Lane portfolios taken over from Bear Stearns and AIG.
2008Google
DoubleClick Acquisition
Google acquired DoubleClick for $3.1B to expand its advertising infrastructure beyond search. The deal strengthened display advertising, ad serving, and publisher relationships. It helped Google build a broader ad-tech stack.
2009BlackRock
Acquires Barclays Global Investors and iShares
BlackRock closes its purchase of BGI on December 1, 2009, becoming the world's largest asset manager and taking over the iShares ETF business.
2014Google
DeepMind Acquisition
Google acquired DeepMind in 2014 to deepen its artificial intelligence research bench. DeepMind later became known for AlphaGo and other breakthroughs in reinforcement learning and scientific AI.
2015Google
Alphabet Restructuring
Google restructured into Alphabet Inc. In 2015, separating core Google from Other Bets. The move gave investors clearer visibility into Search, YouTube, Android, and Cloud economics while preserving room for Waymo, Verily, Calico, and X.
2019Google
Sundar Pichai Becomes Alphabet CEO
Sundar Pichai became CEO of Alphabet in 2019 after Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back from daily operations. Pichai inherited a company facing cloud competition, antitrust scrutiny, privacy pressure, and rising AI expectations.
2020BlackRock
PNC exits its stake
PNC sells its roughly 22% stake in BlackRock, leaving the company without a large controlling shareholder.
2023BlackRock
Moves headquarters to 50 Hudson Yards
BlackRock moves its New York headquarters to the 50 Hudson Yards tower on Manhattan's West Side.
2023Google
Google DeepMind Integration
Alphabet combined major AI research efforts under Google DeepMind to accelerate frontier model development. The move followed competitive pressure from OpenAI and Microsoft.
2024BlackRock
iShares Bitcoin Trust launch and GIP deal
BlackRock launches the iShares Bitcoin Trust in January and closes the roughly $12.5 billion purchase of Global Infrastructure Partners on October 1.
2025BlackRock
HPS deal and record inflows
BlackRock completes the HPS Investment Partners and Preqin acquisitions, then ends the year with a record $698 billion of net inflows and $14 trillion in AUM.
2025Google
FY2025 Revenue Tops $402B
Alphabet reported FY2025 revenue of $402.836B and net income of $132.170B. The milestone showed that Search ads, YouTube, Cloud, and subscriptions kept scaling despite regulatory and AI disruption concerns.
2026BlackRock
AUM passes $15 trillion
AUM reaches a record $15.3 trillion at June 30, 2026, and a GIP-backed consortium closes the $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers in July.
Acquisitions
BlackRock
- Preqin2025$3.2B
- HPS Investment Partners2025$12B
- Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)2024$12.5B
- Aperio Group2021$1.1B
- eFront2019$1.3B
- Barclays Global Investors (BGI) and iShares2009$13.5B
- Wiz2025$32B
- Mandiant2022$5.4B
- Fitbit2021$2.1B
- DeepMind2014$500M
- DoubleClick2008$3.1B
- YouTube2006$1.6B
Questions about BlackRock vs Google
Who is the CEO of BlackRock, Inc. and Alphabet Inc.?
BlackRock, Inc. is led by Larry Fink and Alphabet Inc. is led by Sundar Pichai. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was BlackRock, Inc. founded vs Alphabet Inc.?
BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 — 10 years before Alphabet Inc., which was founded in 1998. BlackRock, Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Alphabet Inc..
How many employees does BlackRock, Inc. have compared to Alphabet Inc.?
BlackRock, Inc. employs approximately 24,900 people, while Alphabet Inc. employs approximately 190,820. Alphabet Inc. has the larger workforce at 190,820 employees, compared to BlackRock, Inc.'s 24,900. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are BlackRock, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. headquartered?
Both BlackRock, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are headquartered in United States, meaning they operate under the same primary regulatory and tax environment.
Who founded BlackRock, Inc. and Alphabet Inc.?
BlackRock, Inc. was founded by Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Susan Wagner, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein, Keith Anderson. Alphabet Inc. was founded by Larry Page, Sergey Brin.
Which company has a longer operating history — BlackRock, Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
BlackRock, Inc. has been operating for approximately 38 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Alphabet Inc. has been in operation for around 28 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the BlackRock vs Google overview